So we set off from home midday on Wednesday laden with enough packing to last the next five weeks we hoped. I checked and rechecked that I had my passport this time! And just as important, the rail tickets, Sri Lankan visa and Indian visa. Without the visas we wouldn't have been allowed on the plane at Manchester Airport.
Ray kindly drove us to Cheltenham Station in good time to allow for traffic jams but the traffic was fine so we had a bit of a wait.
Time for a few photos ......
After changing at Birmingham we found our train in Crewe waiting to take us straight to the airport ....
Timings we knew were generous, to say the least, but better that than travelling during the rush hour and getting stressed with our heavy cases. We knew that if we did miss a train, there was plenty of time to wait for the next one.
Our terminal was nicely signed for Thomas Cook who'd be taking us to Sri Lanka on behalf of Fred Olsen and despite being some five hours early, we weren't the first there.
Eventually some Fred Olsen representatives arrived to check that we were healthy enough (they really don't want Norovirus on board) and that we had all the visas .....
Once all the formalities were sorted we had to all but undress at security - no belts, no shoes, etc - and most things were taken out of all the bags. It must have taken 15 minutes to dress and repack everything, but that is the way of modern air travel, better than being blown out of the sky I suppose.
Barbara was upset that her little, half empty, bottle of glue for craftwork, was taken away because the label proclaimed it to be a 115ml bottle and of course only 100ml maximum is allowed, nearly empty or not.
Another two hour wait at least allowed time to socialise and find a pint of cider before the airport closed for the night - ours was the very last flight so most things were closed well before we left.
Eventually we got aboard, all packed in like sardines in the front and back of the plane but almost nobody in the middle - curious! Being an overnight flight we'd all liked to have got some sleep but not many did. At least we got away on time and being a very cold and clear night we got some spectacular views of Manchester and much of northern and eastern England .......
Some people used the empty middle row as beds and got some sleep but we were very tired by the time we got to Colombo.
There was a nice sunrise over the Arabian deserts though before descending over the Gulf of Mannar to Colombo Airport ....
It was a bit of a shock stepping out of the terminal buildings into 32° C heat with high humidity when Manchester had been exactly 0°.
The rather long bus journey through Colombo's rush hour traffic was only made bearable by our commentator's interesting guide to tuk-tuks, the Red Mosque and the Lotus Tower ....
The Lotus Tower is particularly impressive close up. At 350m (1,150 ft) it's one of the highest buildings in this part of the world and, we were told, has a revolving restaurant at the top.
Judging by this close-up view, it is quite a big structure. The little black rectangle in the bottom of the square tower is a doorway, probably giving access to the viewing platform at that level.
In due course we got aboard our nice little ship, Boudicca, and could at last relax and even get some sleep once we'd attended the obligatory lifeboat drill briefing.
And after a little retail therapy in the market stalls on the quayside. That was it for the night, by morning we'd be miles away.
Here's our new home an hour or so before sailing:
Ray kindly drove us to Cheltenham Station in good time to allow for traffic jams but the traffic was fine so we had a bit of a wait.
Time for a few photos ......
After changing at Birmingham we found our train in Crewe waiting to take us straight to the airport ....
Our terminal was nicely signed for Thomas Cook who'd be taking us to Sri Lanka on behalf of Fred Olsen and despite being some five hours early, we weren't the first there.
Eventually some Fred Olsen representatives arrived to check that we were healthy enough (they really don't want Norovirus on board) and that we had all the visas .....
Once all the formalities were sorted we had to all but undress at security - no belts, no shoes, etc - and most things were taken out of all the bags. It must have taken 15 minutes to dress and repack everything, but that is the way of modern air travel, better than being blown out of the sky I suppose.
Barbara was upset that her little, half empty, bottle of glue for craftwork, was taken away because the label proclaimed it to be a 115ml bottle and of course only 100ml maximum is allowed, nearly empty or not.
Another two hour wait at least allowed time to socialise and find a pint of cider before the airport closed for the night - ours was the very last flight so most things were closed well before we left.
Eventually we got aboard, all packed in like sardines in the front and back of the plane but almost nobody in the middle - curious! Being an overnight flight we'd all liked to have got some sleep but not many did. At least we got away on time and being a very cold and clear night we got some spectacular views of Manchester and much of northern and eastern England .......
Some people used the empty middle row as beds and got some sleep but we were very tired by the time we got to Colombo.
There was a nice sunrise over the Arabian deserts though before descending over the Gulf of Mannar to Colombo Airport ....
It was a bit of a shock stepping out of the terminal buildings into 32° C heat with high humidity when Manchester had been exactly 0°.
The rather long bus journey through Colombo's rush hour traffic was only made bearable by our commentator's interesting guide to tuk-tuks, the Red Mosque and the Lotus Tower ....
The Lotus Tower is particularly impressive close up. At 350m (1,150 ft) it's one of the highest buildings in this part of the world and, we were told, has a revolving restaurant at the top.
Judging by this close-up view, it is quite a big structure. The little black rectangle in the bottom of the square tower is a doorway, probably giving access to the viewing platform at that level.
In due course we got aboard our nice little ship, Boudicca, and could at last relax and even get some sleep once we'd attended the obligatory lifeboat drill briefing.
And after a little retail therapy in the market stalls on the quayside. That was it for the night, by morning we'd be miles away.
Here's our new home an hour or so before sailing:
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